A brief new track from Odd Future resident crooner Frank Ocean, who is currently working on his first album release with Def Jam (due this spring). Ocean’s been pretty quiet over the past few months, but I’m hoping for more of these gems in the future. Ocean’s effortless singing and smooth production makes this worth a couple of your minutes.

Once considered an integral part of music packaging, album art has all but faded in the digital music age. The iPod has reduced 12 x 12 LP covers to thumbnails, pushing many artists to use large block print across plain backgrounds. How else are people going to know what they’re listening to? Sometimes simplicity is good, but thankfully for the vinyl aficionados of the world there are still artists who value the visual experience of owning an LP. Hit the jump to check out the covers that caught our eye in 2011.

Did you know that “Pop-Up Video” is back? Neither did we until a few hours ago, but even VH1 is trying to clamor to the music industry of yesteryear. Not that we’re complaining here at Sloane. I mean who wouldn’t want to know that Britney shaved her head during the filming of “Womanizer.” While we doubt any of our favorite videos of 2011 will be showing up on VH1 anytime soon, we do think they’ll keep you entertained for the next forty-odd minutes. From the animated, to the sentimental, to the really weird, we’ve got you covered. Have a a gander after the jump.

This song is a great example of Frank Ocean’s range as a vocalist…and let me just say that the dude has some serious pipes. I’m digging his falsetto and songwriting on this track, with the slow-building, minimalist production, wavy synths and sparse 808 hits. Ocean has been a busy man recently, working on Beyonce’s album 4 and contributing to two tracks on Kanye and Jay-Z’s highly anticipated Watch the Throne. All in all, he is quickly becoming one of our favorite artists to break out in 2011. UPDATE: Evidently, this is a reference track for Roc Nation artist Bridget Kelly whose version can be heard here, but I like the original best.

Here’s the visual for the Frank Ocean / Tyler track we posted a few weeks ago. This is Tyler’s follow-up directorial effort to the widely-acclaimed “Yonkers” video, under his pseudonym, Wolf Haley. Hate him or love him, the dude has skills beyond beats and rhymes (via Odd Future).

This track is a Frank Ocean collaboration from Tyler‘s upcoming album Goblin, set to drop May 10th on XL Recordings. The album will feature 15 tracks produced mostly by Tyler, with one exception from Left Brain of Mellowhype. Other featured guests on the album include OFWGKTA members Mike G, Taco, Hodgy Beats, Domo Genesis, and Jasper the Fucking Dolphin.